Ok, it says that visualage has an API to the compiler.I think I'd prefer to use gccxml for the same purpose.

The original poster's question about the lack of refactoringtools is an interesting one. I suspect the answer is combinationof market conditions (relative lack of investment in C++ toolsby the large vendors, compared to Java tools), and the extratechnical challenge posed by parsing C++.

I'm not sure there are enough practicing C++ programmersreading Artima (yet?) to do this question justice, however.Might be interesting to see what the folks at comp.lang.c++.moderated would say.

I think the main reason refactoring for C++ hasn't taken off is money. Development companies seem to continue with policies that promote false economy.

The companies I have worked for seem to be reluctant to buy a $500 tool like a decent IDE (IntelliJ IDEA). They would rather developers struggled and were far less efficient than spent money on anything other than wages. Surely spending $5000 on tools for 10 developers is more economical than hiring another developer.

An added advantage to the increase in productivity, is the increase in job satisfaction, and hence retention of staff.

All you hear about these days are Java and .Net projects, which implies that Money and Resources are being spent on these technologies. I would have thought that this would mean C++ developers have to wait even longer for tools even if they exists.

As bad as it may seem in the C++ world, try spending a little time in a COBOL shop. This is where I think the most critical tool deficiencies exist. There isn't even a COBOLUnit, much less a refactoring tool. Don't even get me started on their build and SCM tools.

Very true. Once I had come to know Refactoring in Java and C#, I was ready to move heaven and earth in oder to get it in C++. While it is true that "real" refactoring for C++ is a lot of work since the language is not designed compiler friendly like java, there are some solutions on the market. However, it seems that no one knows about them. So sadly, Ideat Solutions, a Canadian company that brought Refactoring in my Visual Studio and thereby into 6-year old projects, seems to have vanished. I even had to use archive.org to find the latest installation..